“Windows cannot start the Windows Firewall/ICS service”

Clicking the “Advanced” tab on the Windows Firewall “Settings” button, the message : “Windows Firewall settings cannot be displayed because the associated service is not running. Do you want to start the Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) service?” Clicking “Yes.” starts the firewall but after rebooting the PC the firewall is again disabled. This could be due to a corrupt winsock.

Resetting the Winsock by : Start -> Run -> netsh winsock reset. Click “OK”. Reboot the PC and the problem should be fixed.

Microsoft Knowledgebase articles related to Winsock Corruption :
How to determine and recover from Winsock2 corruption
Error: An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket
How to Reset Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in Windows XP